Kentucky Wildcats 2026-2027

[16thBBall Fan]

Well just about an hour ago that was a very ugly last 32 minutes of basketball and the end of really overall an ugly season for the Cats! As we look forward to next season in just under 8 months I personally think this will be a make or break year for Coach Pope at Kentucky (especially with Barnhart out and a new AD) I also heard on Kentucky radio that Pope will have a lot less money to keep or bring in players that he had this year. Jack Givens said they will have to be creative and be able to get high quality players to commit for less money. If this is true Pope did not put together a great roster in my opinion with over $22 million this season. At least we have almost 10 months to talk about it along with the new AD. Looking forward to reading everyone's thoughts and opinions. Go Cats!!

[Oldercoach]

Does this mean that the players coming back might need to take a payout?

[futurecoach]

I like Pope the person, so I truly hope he proves he is the guy for the job next year. I just don’t know if he will. 
 

He has never won a regular season conference title as a head coach. He has had double digit losses in all but two of his years as a coach. Never has good defensive teams, and roster construction is a big question mark as he isn’t great as a recruiter either. In two years his teams have gotten down double digits in almost half of its games against P5 schools. This year alone they got down 16 or more in 12 games. 
 

So what is it that he does well? I would say he is good at drawing up plays out of a timeout, and his teams usually never give up. Other than that it’s hard to see what he does really well, that makes us know he can win at the level expected here. 
 

We will see what the roster he puts together looks like. However, unfortunately for now I have to put down a first round exit for next year.  
 

 

[Voice of Reason]

Watch how many guys return. Pope needs virtually all of them or his tenure may be done this year.

[BlueBloodedColonel]

I like Pope and I really am rooting for him. I just don't know if he's the guy. 

[Jumper_Dad]

2 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Watch how many guys return. Pope needs virtually all of them or his tenure may be done this year.

The portal will be key, for sure.

I think I'll start a thread just on tracking the transfer portal. We can then discuss the impact of each arrival or departure in this 26-27 thread.

[Jumper_Dad]

5 hours ago, futurecoach said:

I like Pope the person, so I truly hope he proves he is the guy for the job next year. I just don’t know if he will. 
 

He has never won a regular season conference title as a head coach. He has had double digit losses in all but two of his years as a coach. Never has good defensive teams, and roster construction is a big question mark as he isn’t great as a recruiter either. In two years his teams have gotten down double digits in almost half of its games against P5 schools. This year alone they got down 16 or more in 12 games. 
 

So what is it that he does well? I would say he is good at drawing up plays out of a timeout, and his teams usually never give up. Other than that it’s hard to see what he does really well, that makes us know he can win at the level expected here. 
 

We will see what the roster he puts together looks like. However, unfortunately for now I have to put down a first round exit for next year.  
 

 

I think the Pope discussion may end up needing its own thread as not to overtake the 2026/27 team discussion. Mark Pope will most assuredly be the coach of the team next season, so this thread might be better served discussing that team as it becomes clear who will be on it and leave the should it or shouldn't it be Pope, to its own possible thread.

[Jumper_Dad]

As to the Poll, it's way too early for me to venture a guess. I'll need to see what the roster looks like.

[Run it Back]

So Lowe is said to be coming back, so he is UK's starting point guard next year and Jasper is his backup?

[gchs_uk9]

47 minutes ago, Run it Back said:

So Lowe is said to be coming back, so he is UK's starting point guard next year and Jasper is his backup?

I doubt Jasper will ever start at point guard anywhere and especially not backup at Kentucky. If he's back, that's fine, the same with Lowe. But if Pope is counting on Lowe next year then he has to go get a legitimate point guard to give valuable minutes. He can't wing it with the likes of shooting guards such as Aberdeen and Johnson and hope it works. It doesn't.

[Jumper_Dad]

4 hours ago, Run it Back said:

So Lowe is said to be coming back, so he is UK's starting point guard next year and Jasper is his backup?

I think it's a very long shot that they both will return. Possibly but not likely Lowe returns but I think Jasper is gone. 

[futurecoach]

Mark Pope definitely will be here, so while there should not be any discussion on if he should be back or not. Talking about Mark Pope in general is very relevant to next years team. 

Which Mark Pope yesterday on his end of the year radio show, came in with numbers ready to try to defend that the program is progressing. He talked about how his winning percentage in his two years here, is higher than the winning percentage the 4 years before he got here. He mentioned how they have won more SEC tournament games, and NCAA tournament games. Which is great, and all are facts, and I definitely see why he wanted to come in with these numbers. This is a tough fan base, and so he wants to try to get some positivity going. 

With that said, it also shows how easy it is to cherry pick numbers to go in your favor. Pope had to go back to the last 4 years of Cal's tenure in order to say he has had a higher winning percentage, because going back 4 years included the horrible Covid year team. If he went back 3 years, or even the last 2 years of Cal. Then it wouldn't show the progression he is talking about and would be a worse winning percentage. He also couldn't compare his two years at UK, to Cal's two years at Arkansas, because Cal has Arkansas trending in a better direction currently than UK. He is correct on the SEC tournament wins, but part of that is because Pope has finished 6th and 9th in the SEC, so he has been playing games on Wednesday and Thursdays to get wins. Now Pope has won games in the NCAA tournament, which obviously Cal's teams got upset in the first round 2 of his last 3 years. So that area has been a slight improvement, but still no where near what is expected here. 

As others have mentioned. Pope has to do a better job at constructing a roster, and getting better talent in here. As he has struggled to close on top players since he has been here. Next year is a make or break year for him, and I truly hope he can go out there and get it done. 

[futurecoach]

16 hours ago, Jumper_Dad said:

I think it's a very long shot that they both will return. Possibly but not likely Lowe returns but I think Jasper is gone. 

From comments from Lowe's dad and Lowe himself it sounds like Lowe plans to be back. However, we know how that all could change very quickly. 

[okie1]

8 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

Mark Pope definitely will be here, so while there should not be any discussion on if he should be back or not. Talking about Mark Pope in general is very relevant to next years team. 

Which Mark Pope yesterday on his end of the year radio show, came in with numbers ready to try to defend that the program is progressing. He talked about how his winning percentage in his two years here, is higher than the winning percentage the 4 years before he got here. He mentioned how they have won more SEC tournament games, and NCAA tournament games. Which is great, and all are facts, and I definitely see why he wanted to come in with these numbers. This is a tough fan base, and so he wants to try to get some positivity going. 

With that said, it also shows how easy it is to cherry pick numbers to go in your favor. Pope had to go back to the last 4 years of Cal's tenure in order to say he has had a higher winning percentage, because going back 4 years included the horrible Covid year team. If he went back 3 years, or even the last 2 years of Cal. Then it wouldn't show the progression he is talking about and would be a worse winning percentage. He also couldn't compare his two years at UK, to Cal's two years at Arkansas, because Cal has Arkansas trending in a better direction currently than UK. He is correct on the SEC tournament wins, but part of that is because Pope has finished 6th and 9th in the SEC, so he has been playing games on Wednesday and Thursdays to get wins. Now Pope has won games in the NCAA tournament, which obviously Cal's teams got upset in the first round 2 of his last 3 years. So that area has been a slight improvement, but still no where near what is expected here. 

As others have mentioned. Pope has to do a better job at constructing a roster, and getting better talent in here. As he has struggled to close on top players since he has been here. Next year is a make or break year for him, and I truly hope he can go out there and get it done. 

The fact that Pope is using this rhetoric shows that his seat is really warm and IMO he is thin skinned.  He has to block out the neigh sayers and coach ball.  Early in the season I felt like the pressure was really getting to him.  He was really short and rude to Tom Leach on a few coaches shows etc after some of the ugly losses early in the season.  

He has to keep the blinders on and construct a roster that can win immediately.  He also needs to get rid of any bad apples he has in that locker room ( I feel like he try's cater to the players sometimes).  It's put up or shut up Coach Pope...you have one more year to do that!

[okie1]

IMO another thing that Pope needs to do is tone down the rhetoric about the players as well.  I get positive motivation etc. but putting unrealistic expectations on players/teams doesn't help with this fan base.  They believe that this player is the "best shooter" or this team "reminds me of the '96" team from a depth standpoint. 

This creates false hope and false confidence in both players and fans.  When things turn bad (like they did early in the season) it causes a lot of negativity.  He needs to take a few notes from Saban or Izzo or his mentor Pitino (who is a master at calling guys out and motivating through the media)...sometimes calling a spade a spade (if teams or players aren't cutting it) is fine and shows some accountability.